Saturday Slight

 

Major change this morning from the wetness of this past week. 

I walked outdoors to see some serious ice coating the Subaru windshield. 

During my early, early morning walk to the road and back, the sky was clear with a few billowy clouds and thousands of glistening stars. 

It's looking like a crisp, cool and lovely day ahead. I understand we can look for a Northern Lights display tonight too. 

We were traveling and missed the last show created some sensational scenes in the night sky. 

With two straight days of 100-percent rain, I stuck to projects which could be indoors or in the car.  One such took me to Bonners Ferry yesterday.  

It's apple-peeling time, and since the apples grown on this place are generally small, I've discovered that The Gathering Place in Bonners Ferry has a generous supply of great big apples for a very reasonable price.

So I drove through steady rain and, upon arriving at the Gathering Place just north of Three Mile Junction, discovered that the open-air fruit market where I bought my apples last year has been walled in and now serves as a comfy coffee shop. 

The nice clerk told me that if I'd go over to Sharon's Country store to the south, I'd find apples. 

And, so I did.  

They're huge, and they are in huge boxes outside the store. It didn't take long to fill a couple of smaller cardboard boxes, make my purchase and enjoy a visit with the clerk as she helped carry my apples to the car, through the rain, no less. 

Rain was good for business yesterday at Sharon's Country Store, Bread Basket Baker and the coffee shop, named The Gathering Place. 

Hard to find parking, and the restaurant traffic was steady with lots of customers waiting in line for those fresh made sandwiches, soups and baked goods. 

So, with my supply of apples for 2021-22 yum-yum applesauce, I drove home through more steady rain. 

Happily, the downpour stopped for about an hour, allowing me some time to rake the next batch of fallen leaves away from edges of the house and trees. 

And, then came more rain and enough wind to mess up my raking job. 

Bill and I later met with Willie and Debbie for dinner at Farmhouse Silo Restaurant.  

While they were in the other section ordering, I took a seat at one end of a long table.  Soon, a gentleman came along and asked if he could sit at the other end. 

"Sure, as long as you behave yourself," I quipped.  It then seemed reasonable to start a conversation, so I asked him if he lived in Sandpoint.  

No, but he is hoping to, he told me. 

I asked, "Why Sandpoint?"

"The freedom," he responded. 

Hmmm, I thought to myself, this could be interesting.

 This man lives in Western Washington and figures it's time to get out of there because of the lack of freedom.

Pulling on my mask around my neck, I asked, "Is this why?" 

He kinda nodded and then added that he didn't want his son vaccinated for Covid. 

Long story short, the discussion continued, with my telling him my perspective and he sharing his. 

It was a decent and civil conversation where both of us knew we disagreed.  Bottom line:  he had his reasons; I had mine.  

He was talking about his 6-year-old child while I was sharing my strong views as a coming 75-year-old who has steadfastly followed Pandemic guidelines and has recently reaped the benefits of following those rules with our trip to Ireland.

The great part about this brief visit which occurred before the rest of my family came to the table:  it was calm, mildly spirited, but respectful with each listening to the other's views withOUT cutting them off in mid-sentence.  

I think we even forged a friendship while discussing our differences, and I really wish this could happen more often in our society.  

When Bill, Willie and Debbie came, another table had opened up so the gentleman moved.  

When finished with his dinner, he came back over, met the rest of the family and suggested we'd probably be seeing each other and talking again if he moves to Sandpoint. 

We may not agree on principles dealing with Covid, but we sure found common ground on  respect and good manners.   

Both go a long way in creating understanding.

~~~~

Well, all that rain we had this week has washed away much of the beauty of fall and today I'll be raking and bagging it to be dumped in piles along the edges of the lawn. 

Plus, I'll probably finally get back to brush hogging the pastures.  It should be a heavenly day to sit on the tractor, go round and round and admire the late fall scenes. 

Happy Saturday.   

  

Bill and I will not be voting in Tuesday's election because we live in an area with no candidates running for office, and we don't live in the city limits. 

The City Council positions have attracted some good candidates, one of them Luke Omodt. 

I've known Luke for most of his life because he graduated with our son Willie.  When Willie served as ASB president at Sandpoint High, Luke was ASB secretary.  

Since then, he has served in the military, has earned a degree and has been a public school educator.  Luke is a bright, very articulate young man with a great love for and history in our community. 

So, if I were putting X's in boxes, I'd definitely put one next to Luke's name.